Category Archives: Travels

The knowledge of a monolith almost 900 feet high in the remote region of Baluchistan was based on a narrative by Captain G.P. Tate in his book on travels in Baluchistan and published in 1892. An effort worth every second of the long journey from Karachi to see this Natural Wonder almost at the Pak-Afghan border north of Nok-Kundi, would be remembered by all our members. The topography en-route to the Neza of this area varies to such an extent where one encounters one of the largest salt pan approximately 125 miles wide by 150 miles long a salt crusted flat ground stretching for miles in all directions, the Oases of Mashkel, the extinct volcano called Miri Mountain, a sight to see both in the satellite image by Nasa and yourself, the cascading sand dunes of Kharan, and above all the vastness and open space, un-tampered by modern technology.

Reproduced below is a part from the narrative of Journey made by Col. Henry Pottinger in 1807 and written in a book called Travels through Baluchistan and Sind published in 1810. He was the first European to travel through Baluchistan on Camel back and recorded his journey. To find the extraordinary tombs described below, search has been attempted in the past as far back in 1905 for the location of the unusual tombs but in vain. I along with friends also attempted looking for these tombs in 1999.

KARACHI: I have just got back from a 7-day, 3,000-kilometre trip through the coastal and southern region of Balochistan. There were 24 of us, in seven jeeps – all tried and tested members of a Karachi-based off-roaders club, people who scorn paved roads and are happiest when trundling along uncharted dirt tracks, preferably in low gear. Our journey took us from Karachi to Aghor Camp on the Hingol River, from there through the wonderfully named Buzi Pass to Ormara, then via Pasni to Gwadar, from there to Turbat, the headquarter of Makran division, and on via Hoshab to Panjgur, Awaran, Jhal Jhao, Bela and back to Karachi.

Kanrach, a sparsely populated region in southeastern Balochistan, about 120 kilometres north of Karachi, is a land of great beauty but also of great poverty. Situated in Las Bela district and named after the village of Kanrach, the region is bordered on the east by the rugged Chapar Range (rising to a height of 1,500 metres) and on the west by the Mor Range (rising to a height of 1,400 metres).